Festivals press on despite loss of sponsors

Producers of local summertime festivals say the events will go on in spite of lost and decreased sponsorships.
Organizers are rounding up new sponsors and downsizing some offerings to keep the events going and morale up.
It's a tough time, but we're still trying to make a case for the importance of community and cultural events, said Jonathan Witz, president of Pontiac-based Jonathan Witz & Associates Inc., which produces Arts, Beats & Eats and Detroit Winter Blast and serves as project manager for the River Days festival.
The events keep the area vibrant, bring people from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds together and have an economic impact on the surrounding areas, he said. In short, the festivals help draw businesses to the region by showing it's a great place to live.
River Days
The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy River Days festival was scheduled to take place June 19-21, in spite of the loss of lead sponsor General Motors Corp.
While GM has been a great friend to the conservancy, the festival has had many corporate sponsors over the past two years that have helped to make River Days a success, and many of those sponsors are back to support us again this year, said Faye Alexander Nelson, president and CEO of the conservancy, in an e-mail sent through its public relations firm LovioGeorge.
Returning sponsors include DTE Energy Co., Bank of America, Quicken Loans and the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, she said.
New sponsors also have come on board, including the Michigan Lottery, Jimmy John's and Verizon.
Nelson declined to give the value of GM's 2007 and 2008 sponsorships or the total budget for River Days. But she did say the River Days budget was cut by half this year, in part through reducing the number of stages from three to six.
Comerica Cityfest
The New Center Council, which has retained its title sponsor for the 2009 Comerica Cityfest, still has seen sponsorship revenue decline by about a third this year, said President Michael Solaka.
We've always raised about $400,000 in total sponsorships. This year we are down 30-35 percent, and likely will end up at about $250,000, Solaka said.
Cityfest last year brought in total revenue of $902,500, he said. Comerica, Budweiser and Caesars Windsor are returning sponsors of the festival, which runs July 1-5. MotorCity Casino  which last week announced it would be the presenting sponsor of the 2009 Woodward Dream Cruise  and other smaller sponsors did not return this year.
The council has been able to secure some new sponsors, including Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby and Meijer Inc., Solaka said.
To counter the lost sponsorship revenue, the group also is scrutinizing the festival budget line by line, booking performers already in the Midwest, for example, to trim travel costs while maintaining quality.
The council looked at cutting the number of days, but found that actually increased risk because many costs are fixed, Solaka said.
Despite diminished profit potential, Solaka said the council decided to move forward anyway, deciding it was essential that, especially in these times, that folks have a safe, clean, fun place to go at little or not cost, Solaka said.
Arts, Beats & Eats
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson last week issued an appeal to county businesses to buy sponsorships at some level for Arts, Beats & Eats to make up for the loss of $350,000 from longtime title sponsor Chrysler.
That amount accounted for 24 percent of the festival's non-food and beverage vendor related revenue of $1.45 million, Witz said.
To counter the lost revenue, organizers of the Labor Day weekend festival cut staff pay by 20 percent in April and plan to cut the music budget by as much as 15 percent, Witz said.
This is where the economy works to our advantage, he said. We think we can make those cuts with vendors.
But only so many cuts can be made with an estimated 500,000 to 750,000 people showing up each year for the event, Witz said.
If we cut back on the scope and size of the festival, we could ... create an unpleasant experience.
Sherri Begin Welch: (313) 446-1694, [email protected]